Fruit

It is Tuesday morning, 7th December 2021, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Galatians 5:22-23

If ever we needed to display the fruit of the Spirit, it is now in this season of Christmas. People are stressed out, people are tired and weary. As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to display the fruits of the Spirit.

Henry Morton Stanley, a newspaper reporter for the New York Herald, was sent out to Africa to find the man of God, Dr David Livingstone who was missing. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack but he did eventually find Livingstone. Livingstone’s son, Oswald, tried to find his father but he couldn’t and they gave up on him but this man who wasn’t even a Christian, found Dr David Livingstone in the middle of Africa.

He stayed with him for four months and four days and not once did he hear a complaint or an ugly word come out of Livingstone’s mouth. He had plenty cause too because people had really disappointed him and left him. Stanley was not a Christian, he was a newspaper reporter - he wasn’t interested in Christianity. He wanted to find a scoop, a story, that he could send back to his newspaper. Yet when parting with Dr Livingstone, Stanley was very emotional and he said he didn’t want to leave him. He begged him to come back. Livingstone said: “I can’t. I have got to fulfil my purpose”, that God had called him to. He said to Stanley, “You have brought me new life.” He kept on saying that.

Folks, I want to say to you today that we need to display the fruits of the Spirit. It is not about Bible punching people, it is not about rebuking people and its not about judging people. It is about loving people and displaying that fruit: Love and joy, peace, long-suffering and kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Did you know that Dr David Livingstone, in Central Africa, is known as the good man? He didn’t lead thousands of people to Christ. He only led one man to Christ and yet he is the most famous missionary, maybe in the whole world, but definitely on the Continent of Africa. Why? Because he displayed the fruit of the Spirit.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.